The phrase bonsai accurately means “a plant in a tray”. The usually acknowledged meaning though is a “tree in a pot”. To make a bonsai is to keep the plant from growing in its usual appearance, therefore controlling its growth to suit the owner.
Bonsai, in Japanese means tree and pot, originate in China in the 1600s bonsai has urbanized into a worldwide art form. So any tree grown in a pot be considered a Bonsai? Not if we take into account the Japanese concept of mochikomi, broadly translated to mean the process of the tree aging in the pot for 10 years or more.
Technically any plant that will withstand root pruning and and cutting back, and then can cope with a very small growing space (a bonsai pot) can be turned into a bonsai. Pictured (right) is a Bonsai from a Malus (Crab Apple).Most popular plants used for bonsai are conifers and ficus. Some Australian Native trees make great Bonsai specimens; Baeckea virgata (dwarf form) makes a nice bonsai.
